New to me 06 has all 4 wheels/tires leaking air.
 

A brief history. Bought it several months ago and had it a month before I went to TireRack for new tires and new TPMS.

I've snugged up all the TPMS.

Left for vacation one week ago all the tires were at 30 PSI cold. Checked it this AM, two tires at 26 and two at 27.

At our 4th of July Parade I was talking to another 06 owner and he said the 5 spoke wheels were notorious for leaking.

Looking to confirm the wheel leaking comment and suggestions on what next?!

I never heard leaking complaints about the wheels in the 10+ years I've been here. I assume you checked pressures cold at nearly identical ambient temperatures with a hand held gauge and compared the numbers to the DIC. That being said, I'm guessing this leaking has been going on for some time, given your discussion on July 4th. I'd suspect the new sensors or a poor installation of them. The valve stem check valves are easy to rule out with the simple spit test.

If you have aftermarket wheels, and they were chromed, I have experience tires leaking from the bead, cause the chrome inside is peeling created a leak.

I had two wheels do that on aftermarket chrome wheels, and neighbor experience the same thing on his Lexus wheel.

This could of been created when you replaced the tires, of chipping the chrome that would bead your tire air tight to the wheel.

You never mentioned what type of wheels you have on the car!

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...c5ea5caf65.jpg
Wheels in question!! Do these have a name??

Make sure they aren't too snug - the spec is only 62 in lbs, which isn't much. If over-tightened they can leak or the sensor itself can be damaged.

:iagree:

TPMS o-ring seals would be my first suspects. If installed by unskilled, unknowing tech they are easy to over tighten and cause leaks. As said above, 62 Inch Pounds isn't much torque.

Few drops of dish soap in a spray bottle with water and you can spray the bead area and valve stems. It's good to be certain where the air is leaking before taking then to a tire shop. I had a set of wheels that had a little bit of the chrome peeling in the bead area. Had a tire shop add some tire sealer to the wheels and re-inflate the tires. That lasted until the tires wore out with no more leaking beads.

They look like stock factory wheels with the optional chrome like on my '07, which I think was the last year for them.


Attachment 48348851

Looks like I get the spray bottle out tomorrow.

Thanks for the suggestions...

Replaced the valve stem caps on my 2011 with chrome to match the wheels. Shortly after doing so, my tires starting loosing air. I couldn't figure it out until I switched back to the original valve stem caps. Apparently I had tightened the replacement caps down too tight and they were causing air to leak from the valve stems.

Same rims on my 08.....They are a option that cost about $1600 very good rims made by Speedline in Italy i have 79000 miles on my and never had a problem with leaks caused by the rim.

TireRack put gray plastic caps on to eliminate the possibility of corrosion due to dissimilar metals.

One other note. I've had 10 or more sets of tires done at the TireRack in South Bend, IN. They really look at the wheels like you or I would if we were doing them. This last trip they did inform me that two of the wheels were slightly bent, ugh. I would have to think they would have spotted notified me of any chrome peeling issues. It's originally a 30k southern, garage kept car.

you beat me to it. A common problem with the valve stem caps. They tighten down and hit the stem and cause a leak

Clif

Playing Sherlock Holmes here a bit, you saw a 3-4psi drop in one week of just sitting. At that rate you would be down 12-16psi in a month, more if you were driving the car. You say you've had the car several months, and got new tires a month after getting the car, therefore you must have had it a couple months after getting new tires. If it was a problem with the wheels leaking at the bead you should have seen the problem before, even if it was due to scraping the chroming when the tires were installed. Ditto if there was a problem with the valve stems/TPMS. What strikes me is you say you "snugged" the TPMS...when was that? If it was just before you left, I would suspect you may have overtightened them. But TBH I suspect the possibility is a slight difference in ambient temperature between the times you checked pressure. The reason I say so is the nearly even pressure drop all around. You can rule that out by waiting another week. If the pressures haven't changed, that's the likely reason. If the pressures continue to drop, then I suspect the tightening issue.

Grabbed the spray bottle and one tire has a definite rim leak. None of the TPMS showed any signs of leakage.

Snugged them up = 1/4 drive, approx 1/8 turn till there was a slight resistance.

Few years backed I purchased new tires and also new corvette valve caps. Put the new caps on and next morning one tire flat and another low on air. Long story short the culprit was the little O ring inside the cap itself. When over tight the O ring distorts and presses against the inside of valve stem.

Only the Black painted rims leak.....:D

My guess was going to be the chrome rims, especially for a northern car. The chrome will bubble under the tire bead, caused by moisture and possibly road salt.. I had this happen on one of my cars, and the car was a GM "loaner" car, it resided most of its life at the GM Tech center in Warren Michigan where the managers would drive it from time to time. One of the chrome rims developed a leak, (OEM wheels), I had the local tire shop locate a replacement rim but when it arrived, the rim was worse than what I had. I had the tire re-mounted on the original rim and used a lot of bead sealer which temporarily fixed the problem. I decided to sell the car 18 months later, the tires held up fine.

I will only buy painted or polished wheels - polished wheels are actually clear coated, so they are all "painted".

Lucky for you, Gumby's are easy to find replacements for as compared to my old Oldsmobile Aurora.

I have an '05 base with the 5-star gumby looking wheels too, the 2 fronts leak constantly and I have to put air in them once a week. I've suspected that it's the TPMS not installed correctly by Discount Tire but the answer being that I need to take it back up there is almost as annoying as putting air in them every week. Suppose I'll have to sacrifice a couple hours and take it back to them and hope it's something simple like an o-ring issue and not my rims. Ugh...